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Aug292007
123 Trilogy: Part 2
Now that we’ve seen the Indo-US Nuclear agreement in the political context, let us turn our attention to other sections of the society. What do Indians think of the deal?
The Scientists
If anyone is qualified to offer an objective assessment of the agreement and its ramifications for India, no one would argue that it is India’s nuclear scientists.
Anyone following the scientific establishment’s responses to the news of the agreement in the past two years would have noticed the vicissitudes of the scientific opinion. Ranging from euphoria at being freed from the nuclear apartheid, to fear and insecurity of being restrained and dominated by the international safeguards, the scientists have certainly had a diverse opinion. A notable critic of the agreement has been the former BARC chief, Dr. A. N. Prasad. While his is a lone voice, a team of scientists mostly from BARC, has formed a team in support of the agreement. They have made an appeal to the domestic and international scientific Indian community, and it notes:
“DAE scientists, engineers and technologists took up the challenge and after more than 30 years efforts have brought the nation to this stage of strength and pride and that when developed nations as well as those from the erstwhile Warsaw Pact were keen on doing business, India was suddenly appearing chary.”
India, Inc.
From an ASSOCHAM Business Barometer survey of CEOs of 389 top Indian companies, 79% support the Indo-US Nuclear agreement. That’s an overwhelming majority, showing that our corporate honchos are enthusiastic about the impressive financial gains we are expected to gain from the deal.
Ratan Tata, the doyen of Indian industry, in an interview with Karan Thapar, said:
Calling the India-US civil nuclear deal “the best possible thing that has happened to India”, noted industrialist Ratan Tata has warned that political uncertainty caused by opposition to the pact could adversely impact the country’s growth.
“I’m very, very sorry that on various issues this is being beleaguered. I really believe that if it doesn’t happen the only people who would be happy and benefit by it not happening will be the people of Pakistan and the people of China.”
CII president Sunil Mittal and Ficci president Habil Khorakiwala have both voiced their strong support of the agreement.
The Public
What do ordinary Indians think? Let’s get the facts.
An urban poll covering 586 respondents covering 5 cities by the Hindustan Times shows that a majority of urban Indians support the deal, but most people do not know what the deal is all about. In fact, 25% think the deal is about making nuclear weapons!
A more representative poll was conducted by NDTV, covering 12,179 respondents across 120 constituencies in the country. 75% of the respondents were from rural India.
56% were aware of the deal, out of which 60% were in favor of it.
Summary
An overwhelming majority of those Indians who are qualified or know about the deal support it. Even the majority of those who don’t know about the deal support it (how does that matter? - it is important from a vote bank perspective). Indian journalists are also strongly in support in general. It is clear that the Left is tethering India’s ambitions while itself standing on a precipice.
India has spoken. Will the Left listen?
Photo Credit: BBC/AFP
The views expressed in this post are those of the writer and are not necessarily endorsed by Mutiny.in
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Aybuk Hiawog
001
11:55 pm
Hi Mahendra,
Thank you for the wonderful and in depth article. It is evident you spend some time on this. On a sidenote, 64% of the people polled on mutiny.in has come out with a favourable opinion on the deal. The fact that majority of people among those who are ‘educated’ and have knowledge about the deal have a favourable opinion should be enough to take the deal through in a democratic country. But that doesn’t seem to be the case in India. Isn’t it time we badgered our MPs and MLA’s to vote affermative on the deal?
Mahendra
002
12:07 am
Hi Aybuk,
Thanks for the response! The fact that a majority of educated people are in favor of it unfortunately doesn’t translate to a victory in democratic India.
The primary reasons being that the literacy level in India is just about 65%, and that coalition politics doesn’t spread statistics as evenly across the country as one would like. These are the reasons a favorable opinion among the educated population is not enough to take the deal through.
Regarding badgering our MPs - yes it is time we do that! Except that we educated folk don’t engage in violent badgering, unlike the hired hooligans of the political parties involved in protests. We simply engage in Mutiny!
Maltesh
003
1:05 am
Hi Mahendra,
Nice study. Yea its basically the Chinese voice that we listen in the Left’s plea. But they have raised a notable issue that all such international treaties should have had a consensus before proceeding with the deal. Not for this on its already done, and the consensus is being built up.
Aybuk Hiawog
004
1:28 am
I have been toying with an idea, maybe a bit farfetched, but one that might give more power to the people. Your post gave the initiative to put in words. I need to revise it and present it in a better way. Check it on my blog and let me know what you think of that. Maybe you can think of a better idea.
woke
005
10:22 am
Although Lefts opposition to the deal is based on their own prejudices and without proper analysis, I don’t think there is just one side of the story.
Saying Dr. A N Prasad is a lone voice in the scientific community opposing the deal is misrepresentation.
Here is the reason why a large part of India’s scientific community opposes the deal.
Mahendra
006
11:49 am
Woke: There is definitely not just one side to the story as this is a complex agreement under the circumstances.
After the 123 agreement text has been made public, I did not find any other scientist voicing opposition to the deal. More importantly, in the context of the post, it is not one or two voices that count at this stage, what matters is the majority opinion of the scientific community.
Regarding the link you’ve given citing the reasons for the scientist’s opinion, it is from January 2007, before the 123 deal was negotiated. Most of the concerns expressed there are regarding the Hyde Act, and have been delicately taken care of in the 123 agreement.
For e.g. we do maintain the right to test nuclear weapons, we do have the right to reprocess spent fuel, and thus can leverage our Thorium resources, and so on.
The situation today is very different from that in January. That is one of the reasons I mentioned about the changing scientific opinion. For e.g. the AEC Chairman, Mr. M. R. Srinivasan, who is vociferously opposed to the deal as cited in your link, is now pretty much satisfied with it.
woke
007
11:55 am
Mahendra,
Point taken. And thanks for the clarification on the Thorium resources issue.
Mahendra
008
12:12 pm
Woke: Thanks for the response and feedback. I just saw that in fact, Mr. Srinivasan is now vociferously attacking those who’re opposing the deal!
Mahendra
009
5:28 pm
Hi Maltesh,
Sorry for the delayed response. Yes, you are right, there’s nothing more I can add. I was addressing that point in my concluding 3rd post, hence didn’t respond earlier…
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